Caged Freedom
by LordBahamut'sgirl
Summary: To get beyond the door of the cage, someone has to die. But, Link isn't sure if Dark should anymore. One-shot, no yaoi strangely enough, and for Halloween...early. Enjoy.


**Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. I'll cry later after I am done borrowing them from Nintendo.**

**Warning: You clicked this story. (Okay, here's the real warning: Char death, a single cuss word, sarcasm That need a warning? and I wrote this for Halloween needs.)**

**-- --**

Slash, parry, thrust, swing, duck, and bellow an insult for a cut, gash, or random insult one of the two combatants will mutter. This has been going on for three hours. Navi couldn't help Link defeat his shadow since the bastard actually listened to what the fairy would tell Link. If she suggested the Megaton Hammer, he would take out a dagger. She say get the biggoron sword, he would use every chance to stand on the blade like a tree limp to get a cheap shot.

And with the both of them not daring to give an inch, it looked like they would continue to fight for eternity. That was, until Dark decided that this was enough.

"HEY! Stopstopstopstop. I call for either a break or some talk time." Link didn't know what to think about this., but he lowered his blade. But the blond wasn't stupid. The Master Sword would stay out of it's sheath until Link believed that Dark wouldn't attack him.

"Why? We are enemies and I have to fight you to get beyond this room." Dark nodded as he put his weapons away. The dark mirror image didn't think about leaving his shield on his back. Link could have attacked him right then and there, sparing more time to solve the damnable temple. But the blond didn't take aim or anything. Dark put his things in a bag similar to Link's and plopped it on the ground, letting the thing get soaked from the three inches of water on the floor.

Link didn't feel that his enemy was really his enemy anymore.

"I know that. Ganon told me not to let you pass if I can help it. Thing is, he didn't expect me to have a mirror to watch your every move, and actually see what the rest of the world is like. So, come on and sit on that root over there with me. I promise not to bite…too hard." His smirk told Link that he was a cat, a dangerous tiger that would turn on him in a second if given the opportunity.

"Okay, but don't think I will simply turn my back on you." Dark nodded again with that damnable smirk and both walked, shoulder to shoulder, to the tree in the middle of the fog-enshrouded room.

"So…when you defeat me, I dissolve into black smoke, you get the longshot, and you also get to go on to the next round to battle worse creatures than I and win against my hideous and obnoxious creator. When you win, I bet you're gonna get parades, women throwing themselves at you for your affections, and get to live in your own mansion. Heh, I bet being the good guy is great outside these wet and smelly walls. Feh, anything would be better than this hell. I'm stuck in here and I don't even know what the sky looks like!" Link looked at the dark image of himself, knowing that Dark would forever be trapped in the temple, and then at the water's reflection of both Dark and himself. Both prisoners to a fate they didn't choose.

"That's not true," said the blond quietly. Dark stopped rambling about how great it must be on the outside and looked at the good guy. Having silenced his evil twin, Link looked at Dark right in the eyes and shook his head slowly, like he had just came to the conclusion he just voiced.

"After I defeat Ganondorf, I will be sent back in time by Zelda and no one will remember the evil king's rule, or the boy that saved Hyrule from being in that eternal fate. There will be no parades. There will be no women throwing themselves at my feet. There will be no castle, mansion, or even a decent house waiting for me. I will wake up in the Kokiri Forest and I will leave it to resume a journey I have started on the day that the Great Deku Tree sent me to purge his body. I am the bearer of the Triforce of Courage, so I must go and travel, to help those who can't help themselves and inspire courage in those that need it. I may be forgotten, and all my friends will be left behind, but I will go as the Goddesses have instructed, for I will see them again, if not alive." The two other souls in the room, having heard that, felt sad. And to Dark, the same feeling of a cage on a free soul.

"Be forgotten? But you're the hero! The good guy that always win. And you can't leave your friends behind. That's…That's not how the story works! Will Navi stay with you? To help?" Dark didn't understand, and Link's look didn't help elaborate either.

"No, she can't. I am not a true Kokiri, so after this journey is over, she will return to the forest and leave me alone." Dark was now alittle upset and not with what Link was expecting.

"So these stupid gold women expect you to throw your happiness away to do something that others don't want to do themselves, is that it? This isn't right! I mean, I know I am supposed to hate you and all, but if there is one thing that Ganon fucked up about me, it was my personality and will. I seen all that you have done already and the people that you saved won't even respect you? Hell no! If I have too, I'll find a way out of death and find you. You can count your cuccos on that." Link looked up at the shadow with a stunned look.

Was this all a really bad joke? Or a trick?

"Why? We are still enemies. And neither of us can leave until someone dies." Dark stopped in his pacing, gaining a grim look to his face. He then sighed and waved for Link to stand up. Not knowing if it was a trick, held his shield in front of him and kept his eyes trained on the dark man in front of him.

What was going to be said, though, threw Link off completely.

"Aim for my heart. It's the only surefire way for that door to open. And remember, look for me, your shadow." The blond was confused and was about to say something when Dark suddenly lunged at him. In a second, Link reflexively lifted his shield to deflect the swinging punch, and buried the blade up to the hilt into Dark's now useless heart.

Everything suddenly stopped.

Link stopped moving.

Navi stopped hovering.

Dark stopped breathing.

And the door opened to allow Link passage to the inner sanctuary of the water temple.

As the shadow began to fade into nothing, Dark smirked and pointed to Link's shadow. Nodding in understanding, Link took his sword and sheathed it, taking the longshot out of the chest that appeared where the tree was. When Dark finally vanished from sight, everything in the room vanished to reveal a small room with only a few inches of water and an empty bag with a bottle in it. Without thinking another thought about it, Link put it in his bag and went on to defeat those that dare create intelligent people for the sole purpose of slaughter.

And he will make Ganon suffer like he made Dark suffer. In a hell that is nothing more than a cage.

--

ten years later

-After he returned to

his time.-

--

Link was riding on Epona, whistling a tune out of shear boredom and wished for the millionth time that he had someone to talk to. He looked at his shadow, knowing that nothing would appear out of it, though it comforted him to know it was there, and at Epona's shadow, wondering if the horse wished for a friend to play with, too. He looked back up again and put his hands behind his head, eyes closing to let his thoughts drift into the silent sky and to a shadow that followed him everywhere.

After a few moments, he opened his eyes and looked at his shadow, since he wanted to make sure the sun isn't going down on him. This plains went on FOREVER. But he didn't see what he was looking for. Starting to panic, he jerked himself to the other side of Epona and looked for his shadow there.

Nope.

He stopped looking around for his missing shadow when a strangely familiar whinny hit his ears. Looking up, Link smiled.

He found his shadow.

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**Okay. Now that this is out of my system, maybe I can write on some of my OTHER stories. If someone wants to make a sequel to this or extend it in some way, please let me know. I want to read it, too. Now, for the ending credits:**

**Typing, thinking up of, and posting: Lordbahamut'sgirl. Hope you enjoy.**


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